Memoirs of Yan Xiaoru

I am from Tianjin. My grandfather and father all worked hard to make a living. They pushed small carts and carried big men to do everything. When I was eight or nine years old, in order to help my family, I also did some small tricks for others. When I was thirteen, my father asked me to learn weaving. When I was fourteen, I learned business at the "Fuchang Yu Bamboo Store". I have been fond of Peking Opera since I was a child. There is a Peking Opera garden called Daguan Tea Garden on Beima Road (now above the Tianjin Cinema). Lu Yueqiao, Qi Suihong, Liu Hanchen, Zhang Pinqing, etc. all sang there. Even though my life was very difficult, I still saved up money to go there and listen to the show. I also loved singing after listening to it. The person who sang with me at that time was Wu Kuihai. We all lived not far away. He was nine years older than me and he was a fruit fryer. At this time, there was a snare drum player named Ding Fenglai (the father of crosstalk actor Ding Wenyuan) who also taught us how to sing. He also taught us a cross talk, which is "Dou Gong Trains Women". Sometimes we also go to church with him. I remember that the first time we went to church was on the birthday of a family named Wang in Xingrenli. The performance was very enjoyable and aroused my interest. I organized a "box office" with Wu Kuihai and Mr. Gumu named Wang, and we often sang operas together and sometimes talked about cross talk. I started to get in touch with art. At this time, I felt that I knew too little and always wanted to learn from a master. Later, Wu Kuihai and I became students of Song Yuqing (nicknamed Song Dajiu). Song Yuqing sang Shi Tiao, and it is said that cross talk belongs to the "Qing Sect". He learned Shi Tiao from Liu Wankui (grandfather of Shi Tiao actor Er Yubao). Liu Wankui is known as Liu Siye in the folk arts circles. He is a double act actor who often performs with Zhang Maolin (father of Peking Opera actor Zhang Mingzhong). Song Yuqing was his apprentice, and he made a career out of singing time tunes, and sometimes also talked about cross talk. In the past, we performed in Yingkou and Dalian areas. We learned tasks such as "Tie a Doll", "Six People", "Hongyang Cave", and "Yellow Crane Tower" from Teacher Song Yuqing. Song Yuqing turned out to have an apprentice named Wang Zhan'ao. He turned out to be a seller of fat and braised chicken. He was seven years older than me. Although we all had the same hobbies, we were not well settled in life. We thought we recognized the Master at that time, so we discussed going to "Ming Di". Later, we opened a "Ming Di" in the nearby Beikai Market. crosstalk. At that time, my name was Yan Hongbin. The names of the three of us are Wu Kuihai, Yan Hongbin, and Wang Zhan'ao; if read sideways, it means "Wu Yanwang". This sign is quite scary and can attract many curious viewers. This was our first time laying down the land, and I was very happy to get the money.

Many people in our "Mingdi" go to "ticket work", such as Li Shaoqing, Geng Baolin, Zhang Deshan and others. Li Shaoqing is my master, twelve years older than me. He is Yu Delong's apprentice. He is very good at stand-up comedy and is very comprehensive. In particular, learning Shandong dialect is a skill. In the past, he and Jiao Shaohai drank together and made fistfights in Shandong dialect. After hearing this, others thought they were really two Shandong people and couldn't tell the difference. Once he was performing outside the Hedong Tunnel. Mr. Zhang Shouchen passed by and listened for a while. He was talking about "Liu Guan takes office", which was also Mr. Zhang's favorite show. After listening to it, Mr. Zhang said to him: "You said this program very well. It seems that I can't play you, so I have to learn from you; otherwise, I will no longer be able to perform the "Liu Guan Takes the Office" that I originally knew." On the one hand, it means that Mr. Li Shaoqing acted well, and it also shows that Mr. Zhang Shoushen’s spirit of striving for artistic excellence. Li Shaoqing often comes to our bright land. In addition to participating in performances, he also teaches us many artistic methods, such as how to "stick the circle" and how to open the "pestle door". At that time, the Mingdi Beikai Market started at 11 a.m. and closed the stalls at around 3 p.m. every day. Because there are lights in the bookstore at night, night performances can be performed, but open-air performances cannot be performed, and there are few moving audiences. In the evening I went to listen to storytelling. At this time I listened to "Yongqing Shengping" by Wang Jiepei; "Ji Gong Biography" by Zhang Bojun; "Bao Gong's Case" by Fu Jiejun; "Jingzhong Shuo Yue" by Chen Rongqi, etc.

At that time, we still maintained the original form of laying on the ground in the past, and the "Yuan Gui" before the opening still started with the word "Sand" in white sand. Every few days we go to the stone-breaking place outside the south gate to buy white sand. This kind of white sand is the fine powder grinded off by stone-breaking. We buy it and mix it with loess to write on the ground. When I was young, I attended a private school for a year and could write a few words. Even artists who have never studied can still draw out a few words with white sand. Our jargon is called "poke Duo". This is In the past, it was said that crosstalk artists must learn.

The words we often write include "to attract wealth and treasures", "to make money every day", "to drink and make money", "to think of spring scenery", "to bring in gold" and so on. They all use double hooks to connect several words together, and the beginning of the word and the end of the word are connected to form one word.

Sometimes a couplet is sprinkled with white sand on both sides. For example, "Lotus flowers are painted on the monk's painting, and the calligraphy is written in Hanlin script with Chinese characters" or "Willow shadows cross the river and fish climb the trees, and locust trees fall to the ground and horses climb branches" etc. We can gather an audience while we are writing. When the audience gathers around us, we can talk about cross talk. Sometimes "Men Liu'er" is sung at the beginning, and sometimes Taiping lyrics are also sung. Frequently sung songs include "Folding the Cross", "Wen Wang Gua", etc. This kind of Taiping lyrics can be long or short. For example, if you still have three or five cents left after collecting the money, you will sing the short one. The shortest one has one sentence. For example, "Kings Zhao Qian, Li Zhou, Wu Zheng, a rich man only has such a long list of things to do." The one who measured the work asked: "Is it over?" The singing actor replied: "Isn't it over? How can a big boy sing for half a year?" If there is a time difference of thirty or fifty cents, then you have to sing "Han Xin's Fortune Telling" , "Five Dragons Holding the Saint", "Liu Ling is Drunk", "The Fisherman Gains" and other long sections of Taiping lyrics.

The programs I often performed during this period included "Quan De Bao", "Foreign Movies", "Da Shang Shou", "The Cowardly Hall", "The Cowardly Car", and "The Sheep on the Tree" "wait. In this way, I stayed in Beikai Market for three years and became a master. Later, he performed in Yantai and other places. When I was twenty-five years old, Li Shouzeng invited me and Liu Huamin (he was Zhang Shouchen's apprentice, his stage name was "Xiao Dili") to perform in Tangshan together. We went to Tangshan to find his apprentice Zhao Lanting. We laid out the ground on the lower slope of the hill. At the beginning, they also used the method of "white sand withdrawing words" to attract the audience. OK! This time the business is booming. Every day, as long as I use white sand to write on the ground, people will immediately gather around me. Sometimes we first sing some Taiping lyrics or a few lines of "Men Liu'er", and then talk about cross talk. The programs we often perform here are the same as those in Tianjin. Because Tangshan is very close to Tianjin, some of the programs we perform can also be understood by the locals. Later, many colleagues also visited Tangshan, and the audience in Tangshan indeed fostered the development of cross talk art.

At this time, one of Li Shouzeng's brothers, Li Guanglin, opened a new "Swan Teahouse" in Qinhuangdao, and through Li Shouzeng he invited us to perform in Qinhuangdao. When I went to Qinhuangdao, I met Ma Sanli, Li Jiechen, Li Yufeng (Jiechen's wife), and Yang Wenhua (nicknamed "Yang Ci Nao", he was Ma Delu's apprentice). They were also invited by Li Shouzeng.

In Qinhuangdao, I worshiped Ma Sanli as my teacher again. I was twenty-five years old at the time and Ma Sanli was twenty-four. He is one year younger than me. Why do I worship him as my teacher? This has to start with the customary forces in the cross talk industry in the past. In the past, those who spoke cross talk were not allowed to do it without a master. Although I became a teacher of Song Yuqing when I was fifteen years old, because Song Yuqing himself sang Shitiao, he was not a cross talk school, and his colleagues did not recognize him. Li Shouzeng suggested that I have a cross talk teacher. I have admired Ma Sanli's art very much in the past. He is from a family background. His father, Ma Delu, has a high prestige in the cross talk world. He has learned many programs from his father since he was a child. He was very sincere and always performed well every time he performed; later he became a disciple of Zhou Deshan (stage name "Zhou Toad"). He has developed his own unique style in art, and his colleagues have high praise for him. When I proposed to become my disciple, he felt that it was not appropriate to accept me and said, "That's okay. I'll accept you as my junior fellow student." But at that time, when I randomly recruited a junior fellow student, sometimes the original senior fellow apprentice would not be accepted. I am satisfied, and I am determined to learn from others. How can I not kowtow to recognize the master? So I insisted on recognizing myself as a teacher. In this way, I kowtowed to Ma Sanli. From then on I became a disciple of Ma Sanli. But he is very humble and always asks me to call his lover sister-in-law. We have such a master-disciple relationship. In the past, we had rules for apprenticeship: there must be three types of people: guide, protector, and acting teacher. To introduce a teacher is to introduce someone, to be a guarantor is to be a guarantor, and to be a substitute teacher is to teach on behalf of others. Among these three types of people, there must also be one who sings the octagonal drum (i.e. single string), one who does magic (or sings the lotus falling), and one who talks about cross talk. At that time, he could not be found in Qinhuangdao, so Li Shouzeng was appointed as the lead teacher, Yang Wenhua was the guardian, and Li Jiechen was the acting teacher. A simple ceremony was also held.

My apprentices at the same time include Zhang Yushu, Zhang Keqin, Jin Boyun, and Li Yufeng. Among these people, Jin Boyun has spoken in cross talk, Li Yufeng is Li Jiechen's lover and has spoken in cross talk, and the rest are all string musicians who perform a cappella singing in Peking Opera. Most of them perform in the alleys. Ma Sanli changed the character in the middle of each of our names to the character "laugh". I changed my name to Yan Xiaoru and became Ma Sanli's first apprentice. Jin Boyun changed his name to Jin Xiaotian, Zhang Yushu changed his name to Zhang Xiaofei, and Zhang Keqin changed his name to Zhang Xiaoqin. The disciples that Ma Sanli accepted after that continued to use the word "laugh". I am the senior brother, and later I accepted Lian Xiaokun, Gao Xiaolin, Wang Xiaoyu, Fang Xiaowen, Ren Xiaohai, etc.

We are talking about the Chinese New Year. At that time, gambling was popular during the New Year, and the gambling culture in that place was stronger than elsewhere. Most people gambled, and the business of the cross talk venue was very bad. Jin Boyun, Zhang Yushu and the others also went to visit the alleys, while Liu Huamin and I went to lay out the land. The weather was very cold in the first month of the year, and the open-air performances did not attract many people, so we gave up and the whole group went to Shanhaiguan again. We stayed in Shanhaiguan until summer, and Liu Huamin went south. Later I heard that he had arrived in Henan. I returned to Tangshan alone and performed at the "Tongqing Society" on the lower slopes of the hill. I met Lian Xiuquan (the master of crosstalk actor Wang Benlin) and his woman Lian Caixia, along with his son Lian Xiaokun and a female apprentice. , I can’t remember what it was called, we performed together. Not long after, Gao Guiqing, Ma Shouyan, and Liu Baorui also arrived in Tangshan. Only then did I find out that Tianjin was flooded and they couldn't do business and came to Tangshan. I have long heard that Tianjin was surrounded by water. It was said that people were organized to block the water under the Japanese rule at that time, but in the end they were not blocked. Compared with the flood of 1963, the water level was higher than in any other year. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the people were led to overcome numerous difficulties and finally defeated the flood, showing the superiority of the socialist system.

Later in Tangshan, I heard that the floods in Tianjin had receded, and the group returned to Tianjin together. I first went to perform at two teahouses, "Jinhua" and "Sanyou" in Niao City, Hebei Province. Later, he and Ma Shouyan went to teahouses such as "Guanji" in Hedong and "Xihuiyou" in Qiandezhuang. By 1942, when I was twenty-nine, I entered the "Lianxing Tea House" in Nanshi. "Lianxing" is the earliest cross talk venue in Tianjin. The actors do not perform on the stage like ordinary teahouses; the stools in the room are still surrounded by the open floor in the past, and the audience sits on the stools on all sides to watch the performance, leaving a space in the middle. The open space is the performance area for actors. Why is this tea house arranged like this? From here we can also see the changing process of the cross talk venue. This is actually the original form of the art of Limingdi being moved to the tea house, and it still maintains the traces of the past. When the performance venue was moved from the open air to indoors, it is said that the "White Sand Withdrawal Character" was used to open the show at first. Later, in order to meet the needs of this kind of tea house performance, the "White Sand Withdrawal Character" was no longer used for "Yuan Nian"; however, generally At the beginning, "Men Liu'er" is always used to attract the audience, and at the end they are often sung by Shi Bu Xian's "Fa Si Xi'er" and so on. When I went to "Lianxing", there were Gao Guiqing, Ma Guiyuan, Ma Sanli, Liu Baorui, Yang Wenhua, Gao Shaoting, Feng Liduo and others who performed there. It turns out that Sun Shaolin was also here, and he had gone to Jinan before I went to "Lianxing". I heard that he first performed at the "Qingliange Teahouse", and later his sister (an Erhuang cappella singer) married an accountant from the Jinan Salt Administration Bureau there. His sister paid for it, and Sun Shaolin performed in the "Grand View Garden" He rented a house and opened a "Morning Teahouse", specializing in cross talk conferences. Later, Sun Shaolin took his master Li Shouzeng to that palm point, so the cross talk actors from Tianjin and Jinan had frequent exchanges.

The person at the "Lianxing" palm point at this time is Gao Guiqing. He is fair and everyone supports him. He does have a style of self-sacrifice for others. At that time, when it was time for a cross talk show like this, many actors would go home to have dinner, and there would be two apprentices left to deal with it, because there wouldn't be many audiences at that time. But every time Gao Guiqing had a meal, he would be there by himself. Sometimes he would tell a stand-up joke or "eight sticks" or something like that. He would not go home to eat. He would wait until the actors had all gone home and came back from dinner, and then During the performance, he still worked as usual at night. He did put a lot of effort into all aspects of "Lianxing" business, personnel, diplomacy, etc., but when it was time to pay the bill in the evening, he didn't take more than others, and he still took "a share." In this way, you can gain the respect of your peers. Otherwise, he died in Jinan after liberation. We all felt very sorry after hearing the news, and we were all eager to join in with him. His disciple Feng Liduo rushed to Jinan to express his condolences! This is of course a later story.

Gao Guiqing is also excellent in art, and his stand-up comedy is very good. Frequently performed performances include "Man-Han Fight", "Shandong People's Fight", "Jie Xueshi", "Nine Head Case", etc. He said that stand-up comedy "baggage" is very crisp and very popular with the crowd. His performance in "Yongqing Shengping" is his specialty. The continuous big jokes in cross talk include "Zhang Guangtai Returns Home" and "Ma Shou is Born". They were originally fragments of the storytelling "Yongqing Shengping". In the early years, cross talk actors picked out a story with jokes as a big joke. As a joke. The passage "Yongqing Shengping" mentioned by Gao Guiqing not only maintains the characteristics of the "eight sticks" in our cross talk, but also has a strong flavor of storytelling. Because he said cross talk was Ma Delu's apprentice, and he said storytelling was Fu Ping'an's apprentice.

Fu Ping'an wrote "Yongqing Shengping" and was very famous in Tianjin storytelling circles. He later died in the Northeast. The passage "Yongqing Shengping" mentioned by Gao Guiqing was learned from Fuping'an. Not only does it have "baggage", but it also has "buttons", so it is very attractive to the audience. Whether it's the meal or the opening "Yuan Nian", just mention it and the house will be filled immediately. He is also very good at cross talk, such as "Eight Screens", "Geographical Map", "Opening a Porridge Factory", "Reporting the Name of the Dish", etc., which are all programs he often performs. However, he has some problems with his articulation, and it is difficult for him to speak. He himself knows his shortcomings, so he never performs in the folk art garden and only performs in teahouses.

Then there is Ma Guiyuan. He is the eldest son of Ma Delu and the eldest brother of Ma Sanli. Crosstalk is of course a family tradition! The master he kowtows to is Li Dechen (stage name "Millionaire"). Ma Guiyuan said that cross talk is good at making fun of people, and his "appearance" is good when he is performing. Whether he is a "god" or a "face", his face is full of business. The programs he often performs when making fun of people include "Learning the Four Physics", "Selling Coffins", "Foreign Movies", etc. Not only does he have a bright voice, but he also performs free and easy, especially in the section of "Learning the Four Phases" where he learns to be mute, the combination of spirit and spirit is lifelike. When he praises others, he is strict in words, good in appearance, and good at conveying support and showing off his appearance. For example, when singing "The Big Life", "The Tree Has No Leaves", "The Big Marriage" and other works, it is necessary to praise the actor's expressions. He can use different emotions according to the content of the work, and every program is different. A soup", which is relatively rare. He also often performs stand-up comedy (including stand-up comedy and eight sticks). He knows all the general stand-up comedy programs and performs them very well. In addition, there are a few "stinky jobs", such as "Wu Zetian", "Liu Xiahui", "The Number One Scholar Enters the Mansion", etc. He uses unique methods and is very attractive. In his own words: "Neither Gao Guiqing nor I can catch up with Dayuanzi." This also shows that he is very clear about his art. However, in the old society, artists did not have enough to eat, and he fell into bad habits such as smoking white noodles and cheating for money. In the end, he did not even have a coffin when he died. It was the brother theater troupe Chang Baokun and Zhao Peiru who paid for the coffin to be delivered. of.

During my time at "Lianxing", business has been good. The audience gradually became familiar with me, and some familiar viewers called me "Yan Mazi", which has always been my stage name. Later, I collaborated with Yin Shoushan for many years, and Yan Mazi and Yin Fazi became a signature of "Lianxing". Later, Ma Sanli went to Beijing and Liu Baorui went to Jinan, and the performances here were somewhat affected. At this time, Ban Degui, Wang Shichen, Feng Baohua, Hui Wanhua, Yu Youfu and others participated in the "Lianxing" performances, and the business was not bad. But at that time, there were always air defense drills. When the sirens were raised, all the spectators were afraid of air raids, and the business was often threatened. Gao Guiqing later also went to Jinan, and the person in charge of "Lianxing" was changed to Yin Shoushan. Yin Shoushan turned out to be the "front face" of Sing Shi Tiao. He said that in the early years of cross talk, he was Jiao Shaohai's apprentice, and he and Zhao Peiru were brothers. However, Gao Guiqing and he were younger brothers, and he was very close to Li Shouzeng and Feng Ziyu (Feng Liduo's father). He usually called Gao Guiqing his senior brother, but later Gao Guiqing made him his junior brother. In this way, Yin Shoushan became Ma Delu's apprentice. Although Zhao Peiru strongly disagrees, people like Sun Shaolin sometimes call him "Uncle Silly" (because his nickname is "Silly Yin") when he comes back from other places, thus turning him into a fourth-generation actor. He stayed at the "Lianxing" palm point until after liberation.

At this time, Zhang Shouchen, Yu Junbo, Chang Baokun, Zhao Peiru, Hou Baolin, Dai Shaofu, Qin Peixian, Su Wenmao and others often visited the backstage of "Lianxing". Sometimes they also help us survive. Often Zhang Shouchen would say whoever performs one would act accordingly. Chang Baokun and I have used "On the Family". Sometimes I praised it for him, and he also praised it for me. Hou Baolin and Dai Shaofu were mostly praised by Geng Baolin; Yu Junbo and Su Wenmao were mostly praised by Zhu Xiangchen. These actors, who often go to the garden, come to "Lianxing" to work, so that the business of "Lianxing" can continue to improve. They also learn a lot of programs from us. This kind of exchange performance is beneficial. By 1948, I was thirty-five years old. Zhu Xiangchen has been partnering with Guo Rongqi for several years. They often perform on radio stations and various folk art gardens, and have gained great reputation. That summer Zhu Xiangchen came to "Lianxing" to see me. It was said that Luo Yusheng was going to perform in the south, Guo Rong was ill and could not go, and Chang Baoting was getting married; the team was short of a cross talk show and wanted to invite me to go. I couldn't decide on this matter at the time, so Zhu Xiangchen directly asked Yin Shoushan to lend me a loan for half a year. We agreed that this time we were going to get a "package of silver", which was 100 million yuan in French currency per month. Zhu Xiangchen and I "cut the accounts". After we agreed, I went to the south to perform with Luo Yusheng.

Those who went with us this time were: single-string actor Gui Yueqiao, plum-blossom drum actor Shi Wenxiu, and string masters Liu Wenyou, Zhong Jirui, Li Yuantong, etc. We took the ship to Shanghai first. According to the contract, he should perform at "Goldman". "Gao Shiman" was originally a dance hall, and when it was converted into a folk performance venue, we needed to reserve seats on the spot; so we waited in Shanghai for thirteen days, and we started working every day during these thirteen days. After "Gao Shiman" had pressed the seats, it was time for the performance. Zhu Xiangchen fell ill. It turned out that although he had stopped smoking at that time, he still secretly drank cigarettes every day. I am too weak to act. I just do stand-up by myself. It turns out that I have never said a stand-up joke. What should I do if I don’t have a stand-up show? I changed the crosstalk to one person, and the result was very good. Later, someone brought cigarette ashes to him, and he drank it before he returned to normal. The two of us were in the "bottom two" position, and Luo Yusheng "saved up the bottom" and invited Tian Shuangliang and his wife to play diabolo in Shanghai to make up for one show. Zhu Xiangchen and I performed in programs such as "The Matchmaker's Letter", "Dou Gong's Training of Women", "Pearl Shirt", "Five Hundred Drama Titles", etc., and the business was pretty good. But at that time, prices were skyrocketing, and those of us actors who received "silver packages" really couldn't bear it. Sometimes I just attend some "tang meetings", which can increase some income and send it back to Tianjin. Due to the skyrocketing prices, banks have implemented interest-added remittances. If you send 800 yuan in Shanghai to Tianjin, your family members can withdraw 1,000 yuan. Even so, those who send money will also suffer, because prices can rise several times a day! After the three-month contract for performing in Shanghai expired, he went to Nanjing to perform at the "Jingu Tea House" near Confucius Temple. By this time, the People's Liberation Army had occupied many towns, and the war situation was developing rapidly. Nanjing was the capital of the Kuomintang government, and people in the market were panicked. At this time, legal tender was exchanged for gold yuan coupons, which caused many businesses to close down and many capitalists to lose money. As a result, there were not so many idle people to listen to folk arts, and our business was greatly affected. The 100 million yuan in legal currency I received every month was exchanged for gold yuan coupons, which enabled me to eat alone, and I almost went hungry. I'm looking forward to going home early again. Finally, the performance in Nanjing was over and we were about to return to Tianjin. At this time, the Jinpu Line was no longer open to traffic, so we took the train to Shanghai and took a ship from Shanghai back to Tianjin. I went to the "Lianxing Teahouse" in Nanshi again.

It was already the end of 1948. The People's Liberation Army had surrounded Tianjin, and the Kuomintang had also transferred many troops to Tianjin. The market was very chaotic. Chen Changjie was still arresting troops everywhere, and people did not dare to come out. Entertainment venues in the city All closed. We actors in the teahouse can't do it, but what should we do if we have to wait for dinner at home? When the artillery paused for a moment, we found an open space in Dongxing Market, talked about two or three sections, and collected enough money to eat and close the stall immediately. I worked like this for a few days, and spent New Year's Day that year in this way. Finally, Tianjin was liberated on January 15, 1949.

After a brief pause after the liberation of Tianjin, we started performing again in the old calendar year (i.e. the Spring Festival). At this time, those performing in "Lianxing" included Yin Shoushan, Geng Baolin, Yu Baolin, Feng Baohua, Shi Wenhan, Yin Xiaoxiao, Yu Youfu, Liu Yufeng, Yin Qiuwen and others. Later, Ban Degui organized another cross talk conference at the "Youhe Teahouse" which was very close to "Lianxing". The actors include Chang Baolin, Lian Xiaokun, Wang Jiaqi, Liu Wenheng, Liu Wenzhen, Gao Yingpei, Fan Zhenyu, Li Mingqi, Wang Minglu, etc. At this time, cadres had been assigned to manage the teahouse in the city. The first people to come to the teahouse were Teng Jinxiang and Han Yaohua. The actors from our two teahouses formed two cross talk groups, which was a preliminary organization. After the anti-hegemony struggle in the literary and art circles in 1951, the crosstalk actors from our two teahouses merged and established the Heping District Crosstalk Team in 1956, with Feng Baohua and Ban Degui as captains. By 1958, the team was merged into the Tianjin Heping District Folk Art and Acrobatic Troupe.